Stronghold Legends

The Stronghold series gained popularity thanks to its very well polished castle simulation features, which enable you to build an empire from the ground up and achieve supremacy over your enemies. You also have total control over your kingdom's economy, since you can set the desired taxes and the amount of food every citizen is entitled to.

Stronghold Legends, on the other hand, takes a sudden turn towards a more fantasy approach, by throwing some magic and fantastical creatures into the mix, such as werewolves and powerful dragons. Thus, beside having to worry about your enemy's army, you also have to watch out for a potential game-ending visit from a dragon, which is capable of roasting entire buildings in a matter of seconds, if it goes unchallenged.

You are, however, informed whenever one of the opponents starts hatching a dragon egg, so you do have time to prepare yourself by taking the appropriate measures. Thus, you can build harpoons to do massive damage to the dragons, as well as organize your defense in order to avoid the possibility of the creature breaking loose over your main settlement and bringing your economy and food supply to a halt.

As far as the campaign part is concerned, the game provides you with three large campaigns, each one of which involves a famous warrior or leader from the medieval era. Hence, you can find out the story of Vlad Dracul or King Arthur and his round table knights, as well as live through the many adventures of Dietrich.

In skirmish mode, you can take control of one of the three available races, each one with its own special abilities, looks and advantages. To win the game, you must hold on control over a power circle, which provides you with points as long as it is under your control. Once you reach a certain amount of points, the game ends and you win, although you can change the conditions from game the setup menu, or choose one of the other game modes, such as capture the flag.

In the end, Stronghold Legends may have steering a bit from its usual ways, but it does hold on to the core mechanics even with the newly added magical elements. The powerful new units bring some well-deserved excitement into the matches, which were somewhat dull in the previous installments.